Over To You: How Do You Deal With Fans During A Gig?

Digital DJ Tips reader Chris Omotosho writes: “As a clubber, I’m seeing more and more instances of punters getting right up in front of the DJ booth – taking photos or filming with their phones (often with a flash), plain staring at the DJ, or constantly trying to chat with them. I’m not good / popular enough to have experienced this for myself as a DJ yet, but I can imagine it must be annoying.

“I’m all for a quick verbal acknowledgement or handshake when the DJ throws down a great track – I might even bravely ask a DJ the name of a song they’re playing, but anything more than that is off-putting, no?

“So I wanted to hear from you guys: Is it annoying or is it encouraging? And if it’s the former, what do you do to counter it without coming across as a primadonna?”

Digital DJ Tips Says:

This is a good “problem” to have: these days, being the DJ means that you’ll have a crowd’s attention at various points throughout your gig, whether you like it or not. As the night wears on and your crowd becomes braver (ie drunker), some guests will do all sorts of things to get your attention, and they’re harmless for the most part.

I don’t find it annoying at all, and it’s encouraging for me. They’re acknowledging that they’re enjoying and, at least for them, I’m doing a good job. I have a “seven second rule” – usually they just want to have a photo, or they want to offer a drink or a toast, and I’m fine with these as they only take less than seven seconds. I oblige, and get back to work.

If it takes longer than that (someone wants to talk longer, or wants to get to know me better, and so on), I politely say that I’d love to chat after the gig. Again, this is a job, and we’re here to get that job done. There will be lots of time for conversation after the show.

However, I’d like to hand this question over to our readers: do you entertain guests who want to take photos with you or chat you up, or do you deny them because they distract you from DJing?

So, over to you: how do you deal with guests and fans? Share your thoughts with us below.